On Friday night, Debbie Brown and her boyfriend left a restaurant in Concord and found a window of their vehicle had been smashed. Lexi, a 2-year-old “Chorkie” was gone.

Brown posted fliers promising a $10,000 reward, no questions asked, for Lexi’s safe return, which led to a flood of callers — none of whom had the dog.

She called a psychic for help, and a pet detective, who told her that chorkies are in demand and that dognappers target them for breeding purposes.

Over the weekend, Brown received photos of Lexi via e-mail, and made arrangments to pick her up Monday morning in Alameda, where the cash and the dog were exchanged.

Elena Bicker, executive director of the Walnut Creek-based Animal Rescue Foundation, said the case shows the importance of never leaving pets unattended in public areas, especially small breeds that have been targeted by dognappers.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Bicker said. “And this certainly was a pound of cure.”

It’s not clear if Brown ever reported the theft of her dog to police, or how long she had left her beloved dog alone in the vehicle.

“She’s my life, she’s our baby,” Brown said. “I used to laugh at people like me and say ‘It’s just a dog.’ But she is a member of the family.”

Comments

It has always bothered me to see dogs, regardless of breed, tied-up and unattended while owners are shopping and many times I feel compelled to keep watch for the owners return.

Comment from EighteenpawsTime June 10, 2009 at 7:50 pm

Agreed….How sad! I truly believe that she misses her sweet pet. For a couple decades, my (many) dogs went everywhere with me in cool weather conditions and they enjoyed it tremendously. So much to see! So many passers-by to coo and smile in the window! In the past few years however, there is NO WAY that I would ever again leave my dogs unattended in my vehicle for even a few minutes. I simply could never bear the potential loss. We all still take nice, long drives and stop for burgers and ice cream (!) but I just never leave them alone anywhere. I am sure many people feel the same. An EQUALLY sad circumstance of today’s life.